Queen Sofía Awarded Honorary Doctorate by CEU San Pablo University

Queen Sofía has been awarded an honorary doctorate by CEU San Pablo University in recognition of her significant contributions to the promotion of culture and the arts, her extraordinary commitment to social and welfare activities, and her exemplary dedication to Spain throughout her life.

Her Majesty expressed her gratitude for the honorary doctorate, stating she felt "very honoured by the distinction just bestowed upon me." CEU USP thus becomes the first private Spanish university to receive the Queen's acceptance to join its academic community, which she enriches with her undeniable merits.

The university's rector, Rosa Visiedo, expressed her satisfaction with Queen Sofía's inclusion in the "humanities area of our academic community, a cornerstone of our academic proposal and a true hallmark of CEU's educational project." "This appointment emblematises the profile of our university, encapsulating our spirit and the soul that drives our institution: preparing individuals to take an active role in public life and achieve a positive impact on society," she stated.

Visiedo highlighted the ties between the emeritus queen and the university, which "unite, strengthen, and give meaning to this appointment," such as the vocation of service to society "through the education of young university students, research, and the transfer of knowledge to the business and social fabric"; love for Spain, "with a constant dedication to our country, earning admiration, respect, and affection from all"; and exemplarity, "an inseparable condition of 'being a university', based on humility, to acknowledge how much there is always to learn, accompanied by the necessary generosity to give everything without expecting anything in return."

The rector recalled how, three decades ago, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía presided over the first opening ceremony of CEU after becoming a private university following 60 years as a university college. "Your Majesty, today, you return here to join our faculty, although in a way you were already part of it. Welcoming you again is a good excuse to renew our firm commitment to service through study, teaching, and research." She concluded by noting how "the Aula Magna that hosts us will henceforth bear your name and will remind us, now and always, of the honour you have granted us."

The president of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, Benigno Pendás, delivered the laudatio. In his speech, the professor of Political Science at CEU San Pablo University described Queen Sofía as "an example of steadfastness in the convictions and values that support the family sphere and the vocation to serve others." He also emphasised her "valued tireless work for the less fortunate social groups, as well as her cooperation in development in health and childhood education."

The ceremony was concluded by the Grand Chancellor of the University, Alfonso Bullón de Mendoza y Gómez de Valugera, who recalled that "of all the women who were part of the Transition, the most prominent was Her Majesty Queen Sofía." He also highlighted that "at our University, we have always prided ourselves on trying to train not only excellent professionals but also excellent people. And nothing better for this than to incorporate into our faculty someone who, like Her Majesty Queen Sofía, can serve as an example of full and unconditional dedication in the always exciting task of building a better world."

Queen Sofía has also received this high academic distinction from the University of Valladolid and, beyond our borders, from some of the world's most prestigious institutions, such as the British universities of Cambridge and Oxford and the American universities of Georgetown and New York, as well as the University of Rosario in Bogotá, the Portuguese University of Évora, and the Japanese Seisen University in Tokyo.

CEU San Pablo University has awarded this distinction to a select group of national intellectuals, including the emeritus archbishop and cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela; historian and professor Vicente Palacio Atard; philologist Francisco Rodríguez Adrados; jurist, historian, and politician José Antonio Escudero; the first Spanish judge at the European Court of Human Rights and one of the leading authorities in administrative law, Eduardo García de Enterría; diplomat Raimundo Bassols; architect Alberto Campo Baeza; jurist and professor of Roman Law at the Autonomous University of Madrid Antonio Fernández de Buján; journalist José Luis Gutiérrez; painter Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau; jurist, politician, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelino Oreja Aguirre; economist and businessman José María Álvarez-Pallete; and José María Ordovás, one of the world's leading specialists in nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics.

Among the international figures honoured with this recognition are former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl; British actor John Martin Scott; American economist Gordon Tullock; former Italian Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Mario Monti; the executive director of the American Association for Cancer Research, Margaret Foti; American constitutionalist Joseph H. H. Weiler; former Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy; American professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology and Immunology Joseph A. Bellanti; Swedish immunologist Stig Gunnar Olof Johansson; and Rémi Brague, emeritus professor of Medieval Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and of European Christianity History at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.